Pushcart Prize 2016 Nominations

Artwork by Tom Yoda

For the third consecutive year, The Missing Slate is nominating work for the Pushcart Prizes. Our previous nominations featured work from 10 different countries and translations from Bengali and Arabic. This year, our shortlist includes essays for the first time.

Our Nomination Process

Narrowing all the work we’ve published this year down to just 6 pieces was always going to be difficult, so — as usual — we’re asking for some help from our readers…

We began by asking all our editors for nominations in order to come up with a final shortlist of 12 pieces (across all eligible genres). Now we’re giving you the chance to pick our final nominations: the 6 pieces with the most votes from our readers (irrespective of genre) will be sent on to the Pushcart Press.

How to Vote

Below, you’ll find links to all 12 pieces (5 stories, 4 poems, 3 essays) on our shortlist. Read them as many times as you like, then cast your vote (the poll is located directly underneath the shortlist). Each reader is allowed to nominate up to three pieces.

The poll will be open until midnight on Sunday 15th November. If, for any reason, you’re having trouble accessing the poll, please let us know via our facebook page.

“The person on the floor was unmistakeably dead. It looked like a woman; she couldn’t be sure yet…” By Hawa Jande Golakai.

“It’s important to bring this devastatingly misogynist and sexist culture into the drawing rooms of society, supplanting the ever permanent discussions of politics and religious discourse, two themes sewn into the lifeblood of Pakistan. How we treat women and how they are perceived in society are sadly closely intertwined with how they see themselves. We must teach young girls the power of ambition, something they have in droves as children – ask any five-year-old girl what she wants to be and I doubt you’ll get “housewife” as an answer. These are protocols we imprint on them as they grow older, reminding them to never dip a toe out “too far”. ” ~ Maryam Piracha, ‘Don't Cry Like A Girl, Be A (Wo)man’

“It is difficult, when you are not part of a community, to see what happens within it. It may also be extremely difficult to come out of a community and reveal truths about how you’ve been mistreated due to your sexual identity. The struggle for social acceptance is a long, hard road, but it is not something that can be accomplished in isolation by the victimized. Rather, the instigators need to pause and rethink why they pour such hate on their fellow human beings. We might think that something is just a phase, and perhaps for a minority it is. For the rest, it is a gift we are cursing them for.” ~ Aaron Grierson, ‘Not Just A Phase’

“When seemingly decent people make jokes linking masculinity, dominance and superiority to the vile act of rape, and express pride over it, they don’t realize that the language they are using not only trivializes the trauma, horror and pain of rape victims and survivors, but also makes them culpable in promoting rape culture. In fact, it is often through the uninformed use of such words that language becomes a tool in perpetuating sexism and violence against women in society.” ~ Sana Fatima Hussain, ‘Talking Gender’

Over the last few months, the magazine has ceased core publishing operations while we reevaluate our direction and vision. We will be back soon–the work TMS does is too important for us to drift silently into the night–but it will take some time.

But while we’re taking a break to restrategize, bookmark this page… we hope to see you on the other side!